What sickened Princeton workers remains a mystery

PRINCETON BOROUGH -- Whatever it was that sickened three employees at Borough Hall Wednesday remains unidentified after a round of tests by the state Department of Health.

Borough police said they were notified Wednesday night that preliminary tests had been completed, and that results had come back negative for the seven most common hazardous materials. This verifies the field test taken at the scene by a Trenton Hazardous Materials team on Wednesday afternoon.

After a suspicuous-looking envelope was opened at borough hall about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, the three workers complained of blisters, a rash and scratchy throat. The other 30 people at work in the building were ordered outside, where they remained in a quarantine on the front steps of borough hall for nearly four hours. The three affected employees were held inside the clerk's office area where the package was delivered, along with two other co-workers.

Police say the envelope was sent by a Louisiana man looking for vitamins from a nearby center, hoping that "the mayor of Princeton," to whom the envelope was addressed, could deliver a letter inside a second envelope after the mail had been returned to the sender. Lt. Nicholas Sutter said investigators spoke to the man yesterday and determined he did not show any ill intent or make any threats. No charges are pending.

To the best of his knowledge, Sutter said, the three workers were back at their jobs and feeling fine. Borough hall reopened Thursday morning after being closed Wednesday following the employees' dismissal and an all-clear around 3 p.m. The workers received brief checkups and were told they could be examined at the scene if they wished.

Further tests will be done in an effort to identify what it was about the envelopes that produced a reaction.

"Obviously, there was something that created a reaction with those employees," Sutter said. "What it was exactly, we don't know yet."

Sutter said police could not rule out that the letter was unrelated to the symptoms, but that an air quality test taken inside the building yesterday did not show anything unusual.